Bonds of the Soul
by Kamen Rider Fourze
Summary: Naruto had given everything to end the war, and it resulted in his death. His dream of becoming Hokage is forever out of his reach. However, where there is death, there is life. As a shinigami, he has found a new dream. He will become the strongest shinigami to protect the innocent, and all that he loves. These are bonds that will never break. These are bonds of the soul. Harem.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything concerning Naruto or Bleach in anyway.

This is one of the most popular crossover sections on the site, and I always wanted to contribute to it. I've started and stopped a crossover between these two 17 times, never satisfied with my idea for Naruto's zanpakuto. I think I've finally come up with one that is suitable.

This is a harem story, but no other Naruto characters will make an appearance in the story. Other than Naruto himself, I'm going to focus on Bleach.

Kido incantation translations will be at the end of each chapter.

Finally, I'm going to be using the most popular romanizations of certain names (ex. Soifon instead of Sui-Feng, Tia Harribel instead of Tier etc.)

* * *

Naruto glared at the man holding him up in the air by his neck, mustering up all the anger and hate he felt into his eyes. The man who now held Naruto in his grasp was the last surviving member of Akatsuki, and the only reason the Fourth Shinobi World War had not ended yet, after two years of fighting.

Uchiha Obito.

When Naruto had destroyed Tobi's mask, he had expected to see the face of the Uchiha founder, whose visage had been immortalized at the Valley of the End. What he got, was a face that caused Kakashi to freeze up in shock. Apparently, this man was Kakashi's former teammate and the one whom had bequeathed one of his Sharingan to Kakashi.

What was left of Obito's white Zetsu army, was currently assaulting the allied shinobi forces just outside of Kumogakure, attempting to reach the village and capture Killer B. When Tobi himself had made an appearance, Kakashi, Naruto, and Yamato had broken off to deal with him, despite numerous protests from his friends, though so far the three of them had been unsuccessful. Yamato was unconscious from a stab wound to the chest that Naruto had inflicted _through_ Madara. Kakashi had a broken right arm from an attempted Raikiri attack, and had passed out from chakra exhaustion, leaving only Naruto able to fight, though he had almost all his ribs broken, of which at least one had pierced a lung.

"It's over. You _know_ Kurama is gone. He and I are no longer separate entities." Naruto gasped out. "You can't bring back the jubi without him."

Obito chuckled in amusement and wagged his finger back and forth, as if chiding a naughty child. "You are still naive, Naruto-kun. The Kyuubi may be gone, but his chakra lives on in you. If I take that, I can still complete my plan. I will bring peace to this world and the three of you will not be stopping me!"

Naruto sorely wanted to deny that, but since the moment this fight began, the leader of Akatsuki had done nothing but toy with them.

Kakashi's Kamui ability, which was linked to the same dimension as Obito's own Kamui ability, was both a blessing and a hindrance. One the one hand, Kakashi could not actually use it against Obito, since he was the only one able to release things from the other dimension. On the other hand, Obito had become more and more wary of sending parts of his body to the other dimension for fear of Kakashi sending something else inside that might injure him, such as an exploding tag.

Naruto had broken his mother's katana when he attempted to cut out Obito's eyes. He had been blasted back with a powerful Shinra Tensei that shattered the sword, but not before the tip cut through Obito's stolen Rinnegan eye, rendering it useless. Naruto personally felt his mother would have been satisfied with that tradeoff.

"The three of you made a good effort, but it was all useless in the end. Now, will you come with me willingly Naruto-kun? Or must I completely cripple your body until you are left with no choice?" Obito asked threateningly.

Naruto smiled grimly, as he raised his right hand and flipped Obito off. "You can go to hell. And I'll be glad to send you there."

A loud humming sound in the air caused Obito's eyes to widen in shock. He spun around sharply and saw one of Naruto's Kage Bunshin standing atop a tree Yamato had created earlier to try and capture him, with a large spinning white shuriken in his right hand. He had already used up his five minute duration of intangibility, and was be unable to use it again so soon. Obito furiously turned back to the original Naruto held in his grasp. "You would kill yourself to end me?!"

Naruto coughed, blood leaking out from the corner of his mouth, as he gripped onto Obito's hand around his throat with both of his own, preventing Obito from releasing him and escaping. "The Uchiha clan dies with you. I am ending the Fourth Shinobi World War right now!"

The kage bunshin leapt off the tree and pulled his right arm back, before launching the massive four-point shuriken at Obito. "Futon: Rasenshuriken!"

The powerful wind attack crossed the distance between them in a matter of seconds, connecting with the duo and surrounded them in a massive dome of wind blades, creating a massive crater beneath them. Obito screamed as he was being sliced apart by millions of blades, rapidly destroying every part of his body at once. Despite this, he was unable to drop Naruto from his grip, due to the boy's own hold on his arm.

Naruto grit his teeth, determined to not give Obito the satisfaction of hearing him scream. Despite that, he was in more pain than he had even been before. The numerous wind blades cutting into his body on a cellular level was a pain unlike anything he had ever experienced, even at the hands of the villagers when he was a boy.

The entire attack had only lasted a few moments. When the large white dome faded away, the remains of the two shinobi fell to the bottom of the crater in a heap. All that was left of Obito was a head, staring out blankly through lifeless eyes. Naruto's body was mostly intact, though the entirety of it had been sliced apart so viciously, it looked as if it was barely holding together. Naruto's eyes were closed, and a relieved, bloody smile adorned his face.

The loud screeching of the attack had awoken the two jonin off to the side. Kakashi blinked his eyes open and pushed himself up with his left arm, as he stared into the massive crater before him, though he could not see either of the two combatants. He quickly realized that Naruto must have used his Futon: Rasenshuriken to kill Obito. "It's over, then. He finished it." Kakashi pulled out his last soldier pill from the equipment pouch on the back of his waist and quickly consumed it, feeling a surge of chakra flowing through his body. Glancing over to his left, he saw Yamato slowly sitting up and tearing off his shirt to wrap around himself as a makeshift bandage for the wound. It wouldn't last long, but it would do until they could regroup with either Sakura or Shizune.

Yamato made to move towards the crater, but the stab wound he had received halted his movements. Kakashi gripped his shoulder tightly, the action all but ordering him not to further aggravate his injury. The masked jonin slowly walked down into the crater, and froze at what he saw. There, beside the head of his former friend and teammate, was the now lifeless body of his greatest student. Naruto had sacrificed himself for everyone. "I'll make sure your dream of peace becomes reality, Naruto."

Kakashi wanted to mourn, to grieve, but there was no time for that right now. Kneeling down, he gingerly picked up Naruto's body, and carried it out of the crater, laying it down in front of Yamato, who released a choked gasp at the sight of his student and friend.

Kakashi turned around and headed back down into the crater, towards the head of his former teammate. He glanced down at it silently, before he lit it ablaze with a Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, watching solemnly as it burned to ash. This was not the funeral that the Obito he remembered deserved, but it was the only one this monster he had become was going to get.

He turned around and made his way out of the crater, spotting Yamato bowing his head in respect to Konoha's hero. "We have to bring Naruto's body back. He deserves to be buried beside his father."

Yamato nodded in agreement. "It's what he deserves, for everything he's done, not just for the village, but for the world. However, we have to use this chance Naruto provided, and finish the war. He wouldn't want us to focus on him while others are still fighting and dying."

* * *

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, finding himself lying on the ground, and was surprised that he felt no pain. Was it possible Obito somehow managed to stop his Rasenshuriken before it reached them? He slowly sat up, and inspected himself for injuries.

What he saw sent a chill running down his spine.

He was in an all-white outfit with a long iron chain connected to the center of his chest. Following the chain with his eyes, Naruto saw it was connected to a body in front of Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-sensei. After a few moments, he realized that the body was his own. Judging from the appearance of it, he knew it had been affected by his Futon: Rasenshuriken.

"What happened to me…?" Naruto murmured as he slowly stood up, looking around for any sign of Obito.

"You're dead."

Naruto quickly spun around, looking for the woman who had spoken. His right hand reached back for a kunai, until he realized he no longer had any of his equipment on him. Standing directly across from him was a relatively petite woman with gray eyes and black hair, which was worn short with two long braids bound in white cloth, each ending in a large golden ring. She was dressed in, what appeared to be, a black kimono with a sleeveless white haori over it. Across the back of her waist, Naruto clearly saw a wakizashi with a yellow hilt hanging by a rope. Though she was captivatingly beautiful, something about this woman made him believe it would be unwise to cross her.

"What do you mean I'm dead?" Naruto asked. "I'm standing right here, aren't I?"

"Your _soul_ is," the woman corrected. "However, your _body_ is lying over there, lifeless. The chain you see on your chest is the chain of fate, which connects your soul to your former body."

Naruto's eyes widened, as he stepped back in shock. The full impact of her words was now hitting him, and he realized he'd succeeded. He was now dead, but Obito was as well. Naruto wasn't sure what he was feeling. He felt relief, satisfaction, but also disappointment. Becoming the Rokudaime Hokage was forever out of his reach now, and he'd never get to see his friends and precious people again. "So… who are you? And why are you here?" He then remembered one of the few things Sasuke had said that actually made any sense to him. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Figured I should introduce myself before asking the name of another."

The woman before him thought about what to tell him, before deciding to just be blunt. "My name is Soifon, and I am a shinigami. Because you have an extraordinary amount of reiryoku for a recently deceased human, I was personally ordered to send you to Soul Society, the place you humans might refer to as 'heaven'."

While Naruto have been slow-witted in his youth, his mind had greatly matured as he grew older, and while he may not have been a genius like Shikamaru, he was no longer lacking in intelligence either. "First, I thought there was only one shinigami, and the one I've seen before wasn't as beautiful as you. Second, what is reiryoku? Is that what you call chakra?"

Soifon raised an eyebrow, impressed that this plus could remain so calm after she revealed all that information to him at once, even more so that he would attempt to flirt with her of all people. It was… nice. Most men in Seireitei were so intimidated of her, that not a single one would even try to pursue her. Those that did, only wanted to claim her in bed, to boast about it to their idiotic friends.

"There are many shinigami, thousands, in fact. I don't know which one you are referring to, so I cannot tell you who you have seen before." She said. "Second, reiryoku is a power aligned with the spiritual sensitivity and willpower of the user. Every spiritual being and every human has a certain amount of reiryoku. Shinigami are essentially departed souls in Soul Society with very high levels of reiryoku, who receive special training to utilize their powers. It usually takes years of training to build up a large amount of reiryoku, and yet you, who has been dead less than an hour, already surpass many vice-captains. You could become a shinigami yourself, you know? You could fight to protect innocent souls from being devoured."

Naruto nodded, taking all this in. From all that she had said on the subject, reiryoku seemed like the spiritual side of chakra that was utilized by the deceased. Now that accepted he had died, it made sense that he could not draw on his chakra. He no longer had a physical half to draw from. He wasn't sure how powerful a vice-captain it was, but the title implied it was second only to one person, which he felt was pretty good. And then the gravity of her last statement caught up with him. "Devoured? Devoured by what?"

As if to answer his question a loud echoing howl filled the air around them.

Soifon clicked her tongue in annoyance, drawing out her zanpakuto with her right hand and holding it out in front of her at an angle. She should have expected a hollow would quickly sense the reiatsu this boy's reiryoku exerted. She glanced up into the sky, and saw a large bat-like hollow flying straight towards him. Quickly utilizing shunpo, she appeared directly in front of Naruto and slashed up at the hollow as it approached.

The hollow, unable to react fast enough to such speed, flew right into the shinigami's range and had its mask sliced up the center, dispersing it into particles. Satisfied, Soifon sheathed her zanpakuto and turned towards Naruto, knowing that soon more hollows would come for him unless she acted soon. "To quickly answer your question, hollows devour souls and turn them into new hollows. When a shinigami slays a hollow, its soul is purified and sent to Soul Society. I'm sending you there now before more of them arrive looking for you. Don't worry, this is completely painless."

Before Naruto could get a word in edgewise, Soifon quickly pressed the hilt of her zanpakuto against Naruto's forehead, surrounding him in bright white light. He began sinking into the ground, which created ripples as he descended, as if he were sinking into a river. The last thing he saw before he was fully submerged was Soifon sheathing her blade and smirking at him.

"When you become a shinigami, I'll be expecting you in my division, Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Blinking the spots out of his eyes from the intense white light, Naruto saw that he was now standing in the middle of a village. There were houses and shops on either side of him and people crowding the path all around him. Glancing around, he noticed that this area didn't seem any different from a village one might find in the elemental countries, with the obvious exception being that the people around him would all be considered civilians.

"Right on schedule, as expected from Soifon-taicho."

Spinning around, Naruto spotted a large man walking towards him. To call this man fat, would be a gross understatement. He was easily the largest man Naruto had ever seen. He was wearing the same black garment Soifon had been wearing, though with a large purple collar around it and a small tan badge around his arm. This man was also wearing a lot of jewelry, and just from a single glance, Naruto knew most of it was high quality.

"Who are you, and what do you mean by that?" Naruto asked the large hulking man in confusion.

"When a captain personally performs a konso, they're able to choose which district in Rukongai the soul will end up in. You're in Junrinan, the 1st district in West Rukongai, where Soifon-taicho said she'd send you to be picked up." The man explained. "I'm Omaeda Nikkotaroemon Yoshiayamenosuke Marechiyo, nibantai fuku-taicho."

Naruto's left eye was twitching at the unnecessarily long name, as he wondered what parents would feel the need to give such long middle names to their child. "Right… I'll just stick with Omaeda then. So that makes Soifon the captain of the 2nd division, huh? How many are there? And where did she tell you to bring me?"

"There are 13 different divisions, and most of them have something in particular they focus on or look for in recruits." Omaeda explained, as he led the new soul through the district towards Seireitei. "And I'm taking you to Shinōreijutsuin, the Spiritual Arts Academy in Seireitei, where souls are trained to become shinigami. Most people just call it Shin'ō Academy though."

"Can't imagine why…" Naruto muttered, starting to wonder what was up with long names and the afterlife. Omaeda went on and on with trivial facts about everything he knew on shinigami, Soul Society, and Seireitei, until Naruto just eventually tuned him out. The guy was just showing off his knowledge trying get acknowledgement and respect anyways. Before he knew it, they had left Rukongai behind, and had passed through the massive white gate into Seireitei.

"…you mind?"

Naruto shook his head and turned towards Omaeda, making sure to pay attention this time. "What did you say?"

"I said, that Shin'ō Academy is a pretty far walk from here so would it be alright if I just used shunpo to get you there faster so I can leave?" Omaeda repeated, annoyed that this guy had been ignoring him.

"Oh, yeah sure. I'm kinda eager to get started with my shinigami training anyways." Naruto said with a grin. He didn't know what shinigami could do, but from the fact that Omaeda was also carrying a sword, he assumed the majority of them fought with kenjutsu. Not to mention that burst of Speed Soifon had displayed earlier. It looked just as fast as his shunshin, and he'd been the fastest shinobi alive at the point of his death.

Omaeda nodded and grabbed onto Naruto's shoulder, gripping it tightly, as the two of them disappeared from their location. It was only a second to Naruto, but almost as soon as Omaeda had grabbed his shoulder, his surroundings had blurred together and were changed from the entrance of Seireitei to a large arch in front of a massive building. A wooden plaque on the left side of the arch read Central Spiritual Arts Academy.

"Just go inside and get tested. If you pass, you're admitted in. If you fail, you have to retake the test next year. Good luck." Omaeda said, before leaving in another quick burst of speed, leaving Naruto alone outside the academy.

"Damn, I hate tests." Naruto grumbled out as he made his way into the central building.

* * *

Scanning the numbers beside the doors in this hallway, Naruto realized his room was at the _far_ end of the hall.

The entrance exam had been far less difficult than he expected. Rather than a written test, he was forced to fight one of the examiners both in hand-to-hand and with a bokuto. He had only been required to land a solid hit on the examiner with each, but Naruto had actually defeated the first examiner with the Omote Renge, which Lee had personally taught to him in the name of friendship… and youth. Out of the remaining four examiners, three had considered accepting him just for that accomplishment, but the last, an asshole if ever one existed, wanted to test Naruto's skills with a blade as well. The man had stated that since Naruto had shown such proficiency at hakuda, his skill with a blade should be just as good or better, and that he wouldn't object to facing the examiner with a bokuto while the man used his own zanpakuto.

Naruto had then _broken_ his bokuto over the man's head.

Needless to say, he'd been admitted immediately and placed in Class 1, where all the advanced students were grouped together. After being given a blue and white uniform, and forced to sit through a two hour long welcoming ceremony, they had brought a young girl with pink hair onto the stage, and introduced her as Kusajishi Yachiru, the juichibantai fuku-taicho. Naruto was surprised such a young girl could be a vice-captain, and wondered how strong she really was. The girl had been allowed to draw room lots for the new students, which was why Naruto was now walking down this hallway in the girl's dorms. All his protests had been dismissed, so he was stuck with a female roommate for the next _six_ years.

Finally reaching room 241, he unlocked the door with his personal key and saw a short black-haired girl hunched over at a desk. Closing the door behind him, he walked up to her and peered over her shoulder, noticing she was trying to draw some sort of animal, though the drawing was so bad he couldn't tell what type of animal it was. "Um, hello. I'm your new roommate, Uzumaki Naruto."

The girl shrieked and jumped out of her seat, scattering the papers and pencils she'd strewn across the desk all over the room. She landed back on the ground, holding her heavily panting chest and glared at him indignantly. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Maybe you shouldn't get so absorbed in drawing your… squirrel." Naruto retorted, taking a guess at the animal she'd been drawing.

"It was a rabbit! Chappy the rabbit!" the girl said with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. "And what is a guy doing in the girl's dorms?"

"I just told you. I'm your new roommate. Kusajishi fuku-taicho picked out the rooms for us first years, remember?" Naruto said exasperatedly. "Since we're going to be spending the next six years together in this room, do you think you could at least tell me your name?"

Calming down slightly at the reminder that this boy had no choice in his room placement, she walked over to him and held out her hand. "Rukia, Class 2. It's nice to meet you." She said stubbornly, still annoyed that she'd been caught off guard.

Naruto smiled, grasping her hand firmly with his own, and shook it. "Naruto, Class 1. It's nice to meet you too, Rukia. I'm looking forward to working with you."

* * *

Walking into his classroom the next morning, Naruto found it already quite crowded. There was only one seat left open, and it was next to a red-haired guy who looked half-asleep and annoyed at the same time. Carefully navigating through the rows, Naruto made his way over and poked him on the shoulder to catch his attention. "You mind if I sit here?"

The boy tilted his head up and looked the blonde kid over, before nodding. He didn't look like the other stuck up nobles in the class. On the contrary, this blonde guy looked like he was used to living in rough conditions. Not from his physical appearance, but from a look in his eyes. It spoke of untold experience. "Sure. Name's Abarai Renji. Nice to meet you."

Naruto nodded, noting this boy hadn't held out his hand to shake. Such a simple thing, and yet it was already helping Naruto get an idea of what this guy was like. "Uzumaki Naruto. Likewise."

The door to the classroom banged open as a tall bald man with glasses walked into the classroom and stood behind the desk, catching the attention of all students in the room, save for Naruto and Renji.

"Greetings students. I'm in charge, Oounabara Gengorou. The first years of Class 1 consist of the students who've scored exceptionally well at the examinations. This is the exceptional learning class, so to speak. Not only do we want you to aim for one of the thirteen respective divisions after graduation, but also to simply train hard and become a shinigami worthy of respect."

The next four hours had been spent going over the history of the shinigami, discussing their major battles against foes like the Quincy, hollows, and finally the the weaknesses, abilities, functions, and use of a zanpakuto. Only after their sensei had gone over absolutely everything he felt was important, did he dismiss the class for their Kido instruction, though Naruto and Renji had to be woken up by a girl with black hair tied into two small ponytails.

The entire class had been brought outside to a large grassy field where several targets were attached to poles of varying height at the opposite end. They were split into three rows and knelt down on the grass, as their instructor explained the basics of drawing upon their reiryoku and channeling it to use Kido spells. Because they were the advanced class, they would be starting with Hado #31: Shakkaho, whereas the other classes would be starting with Hado #4: Byakurai.

Naruto had been placed in the second row, while Renji was in the third row. When the first row was called up, nearly all the students had missed their shots, except the girl who had woken him up in the class. She had managed to hit the edge of her target, blowing a large portion of it off. Considering the results of the others, that was pretty good. A girl in the first row had complemented her achievement and called her Hinamori.

"Alright, second row! To the front!"

Naruto leapt to his feet, eager to finally do something other than listen to boring old men blather on all day. Extending his right arm out towards a target downrange, and resting his left hand on the inside of his elbow, he allowed the reiryoku to flow through him as he dutifully recited the incantation they'd been taught. "Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, bansho, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Shonetsu to soran, umihedate sakamaki minami e to ho o susume yo! Hado #31: Shakkaho!"

A large orb of crimson red energy formed in front of Naruto's right palm, before being launched straight across the field and blowing, not only his target to pieces, but the ones on either side of it as well, drawing impressed gasps and remarks from everyone behind him. The blonde-haired boy to his left also scored a perfect hit on his target, striking it dead center and blowing it apart.

Now that he knew what Kido felt like, he could compare it to ninjutsu more accurately. And Kido was far easier to use. Where in life, he had focused more on power while sacrificing control, in death he could have both without losing either. It was a bit slower, as he could move his hands faster than he could speak the incantation, but the instructor had said skilled practitioners could perform Kido without incantations. "That'll be me someday. I'll be able to use any Kido without the incantation." Naruto promised himself.

The second row took their seats, and Naruto felt Renji clap his shoulder in a congratulatory manner. "Not bad, Naruto. That blonde guy beside you practically strutted up to the front, and you completely stole the spotlight."

"3rd row, to the front!"

Naruto grinned and glanced over his shoulder at his new red-haired friend. "Show me what you got, Renji."

"Gladly." Renji and the remaining students took their places at the edge of the field, though a few had to reposition themselves as there were now five targets less to aim for. "Pay attention, Naruto! This is how a real shinigami does it!" Renji called over his shoulder as he raised his right arm and clasped his wrist with his left hand.

"Hado #31: Shakkaho!"

A bright red glow started emanating from Renji's hand, and Naruto raised an eyebrow, eager to see if Renji would also achieve, or even surpass, his accomplishment of three targets. What he saw instead, was an explosion created at the front, blowing several other students off their feet. Coughing as he tried to bat the smoke away from his face, Naruto squinted, trying to see what happened to Renji.

"What happened?"

"An explosion?"

"How did that happen?"

Ignoring the others for now, Naruto finally was able to make out a figure standing behind the smoke. "Renji! Are you alright?!" As the smoke finally dissipated, Renji was revealed, sporting minor burns all across his body.

Naruto couldn't help it, he fell over laughing, clutching his stomach.

"Abarai, extra lesions for you later." The instructor said. "Uzumaki, since you find it so funny, you can take him to the medic."

* * *

"Haaaah!" Renji brought his bokuto down for a vertical strike, which was hastily blocked by Kira Izuru, the blonde-haired boy who had managed a perfect hit in their Kido class. The other twenty-two students were kneeling down in the Zanjutsu dojo on either side of the combatants while their instructor was standing at the back, watching their progress. Each student had already fought another, though the majority of students had no prior instruction or knowledge of kenjutsu. Because of this, Naruto almost felt bad for his opponent, whom he defeated in two strikes.

Almost.

Renji and Izuru were the last two students left fighting, and it was quite obvious that Renji was not going to let up on the offensive. Kira had not executed a single strike against Renji the entire match, and was forced to constantly step back from Renji's relentless assault. Renji finally found his opening and stabbed his bokuto forward, landing a strike to Kira's right shoulder and sending him flying back onto the ground.

"Victory for Abarai!" Their instructor called out, signaling the end of their Zanjutsu classes for the day.

Naruto walked up to Renji and clapped his shoulder the same way Renji had done for him earlier. "Not bad, Renji. I almost thought you'd miss that opening. Glad to see I was wrong," Naruto smirked.

"Hmph, as if I would miss something as obvious as that." Renji countered with a grin. The two of them headed out of the dojo, due to the numerous fangirls swarming the defeated Kira and criticizing Renji for daring to strike him.

The two of them sat beneath a tree large enough to provide them with shade from the sun blazing down upon them. Renji sighed in relief, leaning his head back, and enjoying the rest he had craved since the end of their Kido training. "How did you get so skilled with a sword, Naruto?"

"I used one when I was alive. It was my mother's." Naruto answered, staring up at the sky through the tree's canopy.

"Oh? What happened to it when you died?" Renji asked, intrigued about Naruto's skills. Word had gotten out about his exam results, leading others to whisper about a possible prodigy in the academy.

"It was shattered in battle by my enemy, but not before I managed to slash his left eye. It didn't kill him directly, but it weakened him enough for me to do it myself. My mother was a brilliant swordsman in her lifetime, and I think she would have found that an acceptable fate for her blade." Naruto finished wistfully.

Renji whistled in admiration. "That must have been some enemy."

Before Naruto could point out how much of an understatement that was, he heard his name being called out. Glancing to his left, he saw Rukia running towards him from the direction of the Kido field.

"Rukia!"

"Oi, Rukia!"

Naruto and Renji turned towards each other in shock. "You know Rukia?" They asked simultaneously. "Of course I do. How do you know her?" They again asked in unison.

"She's been my friend since before we joined the academy." Renji answered. "What about you?"

"She's my roommate here at the academy, thanks to Kusajishi fuku-taicho." Naruto said, getting an understanding nod from Renji.

Rukia finally made it over to the duo, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. She had spotted both Naruto and Renji sitting together, and she was relieved that both of her friends had already met. "H-How were your classes, guys?" She asked between gasps of air.

"Renji blew himself up in Kido practice," Naruto said with a nonchalant shrug, trying to hide the smirk at Renji's cry of indignation.

Rukia grinned and took a seat between them, using her shoulders to force the two aside to give herself more room. "I managed to nail the target on my first try with the Kido they taught us." She told them proudly.

"Good for you, Rukia. I blew up three in one shot." Naruto boasted.

Developing a tick mark over her eye, she smacked the back of Naruto's head, forcing him to face plant into the grass. "B-Baka! I could have done that if I wanted to, but you left such a mess in the practice field, I didn't see a need to add any more," Rukia stated, turning away from him and crossing her arms over her chest, a light red tinge staining her cheeks.

"Would you three mind if I took a break here?"

Naruto and Renji looked up, and saw Kira Izuru standing beside the tree. "Yeah, feel free." Naruto answered for the both of them, as he pushed himself back up and leaned against the tree once more.

Kira smiled and sat down beside the tree on Renji's left. "In our match just now, I was left speechless. Your strength was too great, and I couldn't counter-attack. My arm's still numb," Kira complimented.

"Ah, sorry about that, nothing personal." Renji apologized. "I screwed up at Kido practice, so I wanted to achieve Bankai to make up for that. If I focus on Zanjutsu, I can still become a powerful shinigami." Renji explained.

"A-hem! Aren't you two going to introduce me?" Rukia demanded of the two, resting her fists on her hips and glaring at the both of them.

"Ah, silly me, how could I forget?" Naruto asked dryly, mocking the fact that he was doing this because she was forcing him. "This is Rukia, my roommate and friend to both Renji and myself. You already know Abarai Renji, and I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"I'm Kira Izuru. It's nice to meet you all." He said with a smile, holding out his hands to shake. Rukia and Naruto each shook a hand, but Renji admitted he wasn't the type to do such a thing.

"Hey guys, let's make a pact, here and now. When we all achieve Shikai from our Zanpakuto, we'll meet back in the dojo and face off against each other, to allow each other to see our skills." Naruto proposed, holding out his hand, palm down, to the other three.

"Hell yeah! When I get my Shikai, I'm going to show you guys who's the best swordsman out of all of us!" Renji declared, placing his hand atop Naruto's.

"It sounds interesting. When I achieve my Shikai, I'll be waiting for you three at this dojo." Kira confirmed, placing his hand atop Renji's.

The three of them glanced towards Rukia, who rolled her eyes and placed her hand above Kira's. "Someone needs to show you boys how to fight, and I guess it'll be up to me."

Naruto grinned, glancing at the hands resting upon his. Their pact was sealed, as was their friendship.

* * *

The first half of the year had passed by quickly, and the four friends had soon added Hinamori Momo to their group. Momo was growing highly proficient in Kido, along with Kira and Rukia, though none of them had managed to outdo Naruto's performance in the art yet.

Through their time as students, almost all the captains had visited to inspect the academy, a way for them to determine who might be suitable for their division. Though it was still too early to tell, the captains were able to see who had the potential to become very skilled or powerful later if given the right push. Soifon had personally come several times to inspect Naruto's Hakuda and Hoho training, appearing satisfied with the results, though he could never tell with her, as she hid her reactions well. Unohana Retsu had also come by several times, watching his progress at Kido. She was even harder to read than Soifon, due to her perpetual smile.

Naruto and Renji saw Rukia staring out of a window in the hallway, bringing a mischievous smirk to Renji's face, as he slowly began walking up to her from behind. Naruto sighed and slapped a hand to his face, but decided not to warn Rukia, wanting to see what Renji would actually do.

Closer and closer the crimson-haired boy got to the girl, until he pulled his foot back and sent a kick towards Rukia's rear, sending her screaming up into the air, until she landed back down facing him with a burning blush and both hands holding her rear. "What the hell are you doing, Renji?"

"What are you spacing off into? Don't tell me you haven't gotten to know your own class after half a year?" Renji replied, as Naruto walked over beside him.

"What? Speak for your self! You only know four people in your class Renji…" Rukia trailed off, noticing that both Naruto and Renji were carrying a blank Zanpakuto on their back. "Are you having some sort of practice today?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, we're being sent to the human world to have a combat exercise with dummy-hollows."

"That's cheap!" Rukia complained! "Only your class has that! And I still don't see why I wasn't placed into Class 1 with you two. Between the two of you, only Naruto actually did anything unique. You only landed a single hit to each of your examiners, Renji, and I did too!"

"But it took me half the time you did, Rukia." Renji pointed out. "And it's not cheap. It's a question of ability. We'll be back later to show you the difference in our levels!" Renji called over his shoulder, as he and Naruto left to meet up with the rest of their class at the predetermined gate.

"Baka! I'll show you the difference…" Rukia trailed off, watching her two closest friends depart. She turned around and started heading towards the Kido field when she bumped into someone. Looking up, she was shocked to see Kuchiki Byakuya himself, standing before her. Behind the captain of the rokubantai were several old men all wearing the crest of the Kuchiki clan on their shihakusho. "K-Kuchiki-taicho…"

"Rukia-san. Would you please come with me. There is something I would like to discuss with you."

* * *

"First we'll start with a simple self-introduction. I'm Hisagi of the 6th year," the student at the center of the trio introduced himself. He was a tall, lean man with dark gray eyes, whose black hair hung down to his neck in the back and approached his chin in the front. He had a black choker around his neck, and the number 69 tattooed on his left cheek.

"I'm Kanisawa." The short brown-haired girl to his left said, with a short nod to the gathered students.

"Aoga," the taller student on Hisagi's right said with a brief wave of his hand.

"The three of us will be leading you today," Hisagi announced, drawing whispers and murmurs from the students of Class 1.

Naruto and Renji looked around, trying to catch snippets of what was being said, before finally turning to Kira. "What, are the three of them famous or something?" Naruto asked.

"You don't know?" Kira asked his fellow blonde incredulously. "Not all of them. Just the one in the middle. Hisagi Shuhei. Every few years, some are chosen to enter divisions even before they graduate. They have a certain future ahead, so it's said to be a promising position."

Naruto thought back to Soifon's words as she performed a konso on him, and wondered if she was guaranteeing him a position in the nibantai.

"On that subject," Kira started with a smirk, drawing Naruto out of his thoughts. "During the entrance exams for the academy, he failed two times. So thinking about it in academic results, I may be the one with more talent."

"Oh?" Renji asked skeptically.

"Alright then, we'll have you work in groups of four. Please refer to the lots you drew in the classroom earlier on, and look for people with the same symbol to form your groups." Kanisawa directed.

Naruto looked down at the slip of paper in his hand and saw it was a hell butterfly. Renji and Kira both flashed him grins and showed him their slips, also with hell butterflies on them. Feeling a tap on his back, Naruto spun around to see Hinamori smiling at him with a paper displaying a hell butterfly. "You ever get the feeling that this was somehow rigged?"

"What are you talking about?" Kira asked. "You saw us all pick them out of the box randomly. I admit it's fortunate, but I don't see how the instructors could have influenced a random drawing."

Naruto bit his lip in thought. The four of them were in the top of their class, with Naruto scoring the highest in all courses save for the lecture portions. Renji took second in Zanjutsu, while Kira took second in Hoho, and Hinamori took second in Kido and first in all classroom work. That they were all grouped together on their first outing to the human world was too coincidental for his liking.

"Alright, everyone's grouped up." Hisagi said, catching Naruto's attention again. "Now we'll explain the outline of this exercise."

Kanisawa stepped forward and cleared her throat with a cough. "Some other 6th years went to a specific area in the human world earlier, and have formed a large spiritual barrier around it."

"You will use that area within the barrier to practice fighting against the dummy-hollows." Aoga continued.

"The other 6th years have chosen a relatively easy area to do combat in, but they won't be helping in the fight itself. Got that? Alright, let's go! Open the gate!" Hisagi called out, as he turned around to face the large shōji-like gate that had been created specifically for the academy students.

As one, the entire group stepped through the gate to the human world.

* * *

As soon as they arrived, the gate closed behind them, and disappeared from view. Naruto had been told time passed differently between Soul Society and the human world, but he hadn't believed it until now. It had only been six months since he entered the academy, but now looking at the sight before him, it must have been years since his death. The buildings around them were all as tall or taller than the Hokage tower had been in Konoha. Everything just seemed…new.

"Alright, all groups split up and claim your own spot in the area. Once we've confirmed your locations, we'll be releasing the dummy-hollows. Go!" Hisagi said to the group. As soon as he finished, the majority of the groups all darted off in different directions using their moderate Hoho abilities. Kanisawa and Aoga then sped off with shunpo to make sure each team had found a location of their own, separate from the others. Naruto's group merely walked over to an area with low buildings and plenty of open spaces, a good location to fight a hollow in.

Shuhei nodded, confirming their location. "Good choice. Alright, Kanisawa and Aoga have released their reiatsu, which means it's time to start. Good luck you four." Shuhei vanished with a shunpo, leaving the four students alone on the rooftop. It wasn't long before four of the dummy-hollows arrived. They sped down the side of a nearby building on four legs, each with a large white teardrop shaped mask. As soon as they reached the rooftop, the four hollows separated and went after each of them.

"Separate, or we'll be in each other's way up here!" Naruto called out to the other three, who nodded and leapt off to nearby rooftops, leaving Naruto alone with the hollow still coming at him.

Naruto unsheathed the blank zanpakuto he'd been given earlier in the year, and held it at the ready. He sorely wished they'd been taught how to meditate with them, to try and connect the swords with their Zanpakuto's spirit. As much as he loved using Kido, he _really_ wanted to start fighting with his Shikai immediately.

The dummy-hollow leapt up at him, intending to attach itself to his chest. Naruto easily-side-stepped the hollow sailing through the air at him, and sliced it down the middle with his blade. The dummy-hollow immediately exploded, sending him crashing back into the side of a building. "Guess that's why he jumped at me…"

* * *

Renji glanced over his right shoulder, seeing the dummy-hollow still following after him as fast as its legs would take it. Glancing to his left as he ran, Renji saw Naruto easily slash apart his target, only for it to explode in his face and send him flying into the wall of the building he was on. "Oh…? Thanks for the warning, Naruto."

Quickly coming to a stop and spinning around in place, Renji let the dummy-hollow approach before dashing straight towards it with Hoho. His sword cut cleanly through the dummy-hollow's side, but he immediately leapt off the roof and onto the lower building Naruto was on. As expected, his target exploded up on the roof only seconds after he leapt off.

Glancing down at Naruto in concern, he found, to his relief, that Naruto had not been injured by the explosion, but his back would likely be sore from the impact. Glancing around, he saw Hinamori above and to his right, standing still and looking for her target, which had disappeared from view. Movement in the corner of Renji's eye drew his attention back to the smoke of his destroyed dummy-hollow, which Hinamori's target had used as cover.

"Hinamori, it's coming!" Renji shouted.

Hearing Renji's cry pierce through the air between them, Hinamori backed up to the edge of her rooftop, putting the maximum distance between her and the approaching dummy-hollow. This one appeared slightly faster, drawing closer to her on its four legs than the others had done with Naruto and Renji. Raising her left hand and grasping her wrist, she built up reiryoku for her Kido. "Hado #31: Shakkaho!"

The ball of crimson light flew swiftly from her hand and smashed into the dummy-hollow's mask, blowing the entire thing to pieces. Quickly moving through the smoke from Momo's destroyed opponent, was the last and final dummy-hollow, heading towards the edge of the rooftop, completely ignoring Hinamori. "Kira-kun!" She cried out in warning.

Kira leapt up into the air, his form silhouetted against the moon, as he brought his blade down to slash the dummy-hollow clean in half, before landing back down on the roof below Momo's. The last dummy-hollow exploded in a cloud of black smoke, signaling the end of their test.

Naruto, Renji, and Hinamori dropped down around Kira, each of them sporting a victorious smile or grin. "That was really easy." Naruto said, almost disappointed.

"That's because we're the best!" Renji declared exuberantly.

"It's because we worked so well as a team," Kira asserted. "If our teamwork had been anything less, we'd have interfered with each other and failed."

"Baka. I could have probably handled this myself with no problems at all." Renji boasted. "We're going to have to fight real hollows anyway."

Hinamori rolled her eyes, meeting Naruto's gaze as they both smiled. "There you go again. You're only good at boasting."

"Not just boasting!" Renji argued.

"But you didn't deny you're good at boasting," Naruto pointed out with a smirk.

"Come on, let's head back." Hinamori said, pushing Renji's back to get him walking, even as he sputtered out complaints and protests the whole way.

* * *

As the group of four headed back towards the rendezvous point, they heard a frightened scream ring through the air, followed by a bone-chilling howl. Naruto's eyes narrowed, as he'd heard a howl just like this one the day he'd died. "It's a hollow. A real hollow! Come on!"

Renji, Kira, and Hinamori quickly followed after Naruto who was all out sprinting towards their destination. As they rounded the final corner, they saw a hollow larger than most of the buildings in the area. The mask on it's head could almost be described as human-like, if it weren't for the two massive horns protruding from the top. Attached to its shoulders were two large wings angled down, and instead of hands, two massive bony tusks were attached to the hollow's arms, reaching up to the elbow. Naruto spotted the body of a female draped over the right tusk, blood dripping down from her body.

With a loud roar, the hollow moved its right tusk through the air, sending the body flying. Naruto was then able to get a clear look at the girl's face and saw that it was Kanisawa. She had a large gash running down from her left shoulder to her right hip, and her eyes were unfortunately lifeless.

"Damn you! How dare you kill Kanisawa?!" Aoga yelled, as he charged forth.

"Aoga, stop!" Shuhei warned. It was too late however, as the hollow brought its right tusk down and pierced Aoga's body, pinning it to the wall in a spray of blood. Shuhei cursed at the loss of his two friends and turned back to the 1st years still behind him. "Run, first years! Run as far as you can!"

The students were all to eager to heed his instructions, as they started running back the way they came in droves.

"That's a real hollow?" Renji asked, as he started up at the massive being before them. He too started running back, but stopped as he realized Kira wasn't following him. "What are you doing? Let's go!" That seemed to snap him out of his shock, as both Kira and Renji started following after the other students.

"Soul Society, requesting backup. This is Hisagi Shuhei of the 6th years." Shuhei said, speaking into the microphone attached to his shihakusho's collar. "Point 1026 of the human world. Northwest point 2128. We're being attacked by a huge hollow…" Hisagi trailed off, using shunpo to avoid the massive blue cero fired at him from the hollow's mouth.

Naruto was clenching his fists so tightly, that his palms had begun to bleed from his nails digging into them. Two shinigami had just died before his eyes because of this hollow, and he was being told to run away? "Impossible. I won't run away and let this hollow kill anyone else."

Standing beside him, Hinamori had also stayed rooted to her spot, though where Naruto was looking angry and determined, she was looking confused and shocked. This was her first time seeing someone killed, and she was being told to run away, when all the academy had ever taught her, was that shinigami were supposed to _save_ people from hollows. "Why… why's everyone running away?"

"What are you two doing?" Kira called out to Naruto and Momo as he and Renji stopped running. "Weren't we told to run away? The leader's orders are absolute!"

"You want me to run away while Hisagi fights this thing alone?!" Naruto yelled back at the two of them, anger burning in his azure blue eyes.

"You can't beat it!" Renji declared. "Two of the 6th years were killed in a second!"

Naruto grit his teeth as the huge hollow slashed its tusk down Shuhei's right eye, covering it in blood, and knocking him into the wall. Even with his limited vision, Shuhei managed to avoid the next three ceros fired out of the hollows mouth, and charged towards it, leaping in the air with his sword held high to slash the hollow's mask.

Just before he reached it, the hollow smacked Shuhei out of the air with its left tusk, though Shuhei managed to land on his feet, skidding back along the ground. The hollow raised its right tusk, which separated into nine separate blades, arrayed out like claws, ready to finish off Shuhei. Just as the claws were slashed down towards the injured 6th year, they were intercepted and blocked, by the blades held in Naruto's, Renji's and Kira's hands, while Hinamori stood in front of Shuhei with her own zanpakuto held up defensively.

"You…!" Shuhei exclaimed in surprise.

"Our apologies! We're violating your orders!" Kira said through clenched teeth, putting everything he had into keeping the hollow's claw from slashing down any further.

"We came to help you, so punish us later sempai!" Renji said, working on pushing up his portion of the claw with Naruto. Together, the three of them managed to force the claw off and away, which Hinamori took as the opportunity to raise both hands together straight towards the hollow's mask.

"Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen…" Hinamori called out.

"…banshō, habataki hito no na o kansu mono yo!" Kira continued, raising his own hands towards the mask.

"Shonetsu to soran, umihedate…" Renji added, raising both his hands up at the hollow. This time he would not fail. _They_ would not fail.

"…sakamaki minami e to ho o susume yo!" Naruto yelled out, concluding the incantation, a brilliant crimson red glow forming in front of his upraised palms.

"Hado #31: Shakkaho!" The four of them cried out together, pouring all their power into this one spell.

A large ball of crimson energy shot out like a bullet, smashing straight into the hollow's mask. The hollow roared in pain and anger, bringing its claw up to cover the mask. A long jagged crack had formed down the center of it, but for the most part, it remained intact.

"Sempai, now!" Renji said, grabbing Shuhei as the five of them started running down an alley to their left. "Why was such a huge hollow able to get close so easily?" He asked Shuhei as they ran.

"I don't know." Shuhei answered with frustration. "I've never heard of such a thing, but it's probably able to cancel out its own reiatsu."

"That would block the hollow from our senses," Naruto said in realization.

"We can't defeat that hollow at our current level!" Kira informed the three running ahead of him and Hinamori. What should we…?"

"I requested backup from Soul Society. We have to hold until help arrives." Shuhei replied. The five of them kept running through the area until Shuhei suddenly stopped, extending an arm to ensure Renji and Naruto did the same.

"The surroundings are distorting," he informed them.

In the air above them, large black portals began appearing, releasing more hollows on par with the one they had just escaped from. More and more emerged, until finally there were eight huge hollows in the area, completely surrounding them. The one from before lumbered around the corner, standing just outside the ring for a total of nine.

The five of them stood together in a circle, ensuring their backs could not be targeted by any of the hollows, though it seemed as if that would not matter in a few moments. Kira was rapidly swiveling his head to glance at them all in fear, until he felt Hinamori squeeze his shoulder comfortingly. It had the effect of calming him down, but did not remove his fear.

"Hado #31: Shakkaho!"

Kira and Hinamori looked on in disbelief as Naruto fired off a powerful crimson ball straight into the mouth of a hollow who had been preparing a cero. The two energies combined inside the hollow's mouth, producing a large explosion. However, as the smoke cleared, Naruto saw that the hollow had not received any injuries from his attack. He hefted his sword up once more, not willing to die without a fight.

The hollow he had attacked opened its mouth again, and started preparing the bright white cero once more, until its mask was sliced apart by a blade cutting straight up. The other hollows stepped back, regrouping and opening a path behind the five students.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," came a calm voice from behind them.

Naruto spun around and saw Aizen-taicho from the gobantai along with his fuku-taicho, Ichimaru Gin, calmly walking towards them. "We've come to rescue you."

Aizen stopped just in front of Hinamori and gently set his hand atop her head. "You've worked hard. You must have been scared. It's alright now. You may leave the rest to us." Renji and Naruto stepped aside to allow the two of them to pass, watching as the captains made their way over to the gathering of hollows.

"Phew… what a great number." Gin remarked mockingly, looking over them all with his fox-like grin. "Ikorose, Shinsou." Gin's wakizashi-sized zanpakuto suddenly extended out, piercing straight through the mask of a hollow with ease, and continued on through the masks of four more. The vice-captain then swung his extended blade through the air, cutting apart two of the flying hollows with a single sweep of his blade.

The final hollow reared back its right fist and sent a powerful punch straight towards Aizen, who stopped it with his own hand, reiryoku being emitted from his palm, which produced a bright blue glow and surrounded the hollow's fist. Aizen pushed his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose, and released more reiryoku, ripping apart the massive hollow starting from the fist all the way up to the mask.

With the threats all cleared away, Aizen turned to face the group and smiled, as Gin re-sheathed his zanpakuto. "The other students have been transported safely back to the academy and are now recuperating at the yonbantai barracks. Unohana-taicho is taking good care of them. After everything you five have been through tonight, I think you could all use a little rest."

As Aizen and Gin escorted them back towards the gate, Naruto couldn't help but stare at the captain's back the whole way. Something about him seemed…off. It didn't feel malicious, but it certainly felt as if the captain was hiding something. That smile he'd given them earlier was certainly faked. He shook these thoughts away and ran to catch up with the group. It was probably just his imagination. After all, even in death people had problems and painful memories they would not share with everyone.

The captain was entitled to his secrets.

* * *

Naruto sighed, thankful to have been released from the medical corps early. Unohana-taicho wanted to keep him overnight, until he convinced her to let him leave so he could reassure Rukia that he and the others were alright. That was what he'd told her, but all he wanted to do was crawl into bed and get the rest he felt he deserved. Class 1 was learning how to channel their zanpakuto spirits into the blank swords tomorrow, and he wanted to be fully rested for that.

Opening the door, he saw Rukia sitting on her bed, looking down at her hands with a depressed look on her face. Worried, Naruto quickly closed and locked the door, as he made his way over to his friend. "Rukia? What's the matter?"

She was silent for several long moments, and Naruto wasn't going to rush her. Eventually, she looked up at him, and he saw in her eyes how much this was bothering her. "The… the Kuchiki clan wishes to adopt me and advance my graduation."

Naruto blinked, unsure how to take that news. Rukia would be leaving their group, and would be well on her way as a shinigami by the time he and the others finally graduated at the end of their six years. However, she would be taken in by a noble house, allowed to declare herself as Kuchiki Rukia, and would have far better instructors than the academy would provide her. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't want to leave you… or the others. I want to become a shinigami with you guys." Rukia stated, though Naruto saw she was still unsure even as she was answering him. "W-What do you think I should do?"

Naruto sighed and sat down on the bed beside her. He didn't want to be selfish and ask her to stay, when it would only hold her back. But, he also couldn't bring himself to tell her to accept. "I can't answer that for you, Rukia. Only you can decide what you should do."

Rukia nodded slowly, thinking about her first meeting with Naruto, Kira and Hinamori and the times they had spent together over the months between classes, eating lunches and dinners together, watching each other progress further and further, and becoming the closest of friends. Could she let all that go to become a shinigami much faster, to join one of the most well respected clans in all of Seireitei? She took a sidelong glance at Naruto and her heart gave her the answer before her head.

No, she could not.

Somewhere along the line, their friendship had developed into affection. It had now progressed even further, when the thought of losing him had passed through Rukia's mind. "Naruto."

"Hmm? What did you decide, Rukia—" Naruto was shocked into silence as Rukia leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. His mind quickly caught up, and he simply wrapped his arms around her slim waist and held onto her comfortingly, as she reluctantly ended the kiss to speak.

"I-I'm not going. We made a pact with the others as friends, and I will not be the one to break it. If I'm going to leave this academy as a shinigami, I'll do it with you and the others." Rukia stated firmly.

Naruto blinked slowly, shocked by her decision. "A-Are you sure, Rukia? This is an opportunity that only comes once. If you pass on it now, you won't get another one."

"Are you trying to get rid of me, Uzumaki?" Rukia asked, a look of annoyance plastered on her face. "Well, tough luck. You're stuck with me for the next six years, whether you like it or not."

Naruto smiled softly and shook his head, pulling Rukia into his arms and leaning back against the wall. "I think I can live with that. Kuchiki Rukia doesn't sound too appealing anyways. I think Uzumaki Rukia has a better ring to it."

Her eyes widened as she turned around to look at him in shock. "A-Are you…?"

"Don't get the wrong idea," Naruto denied. "I just thought that you could finally have a name to call yourself, without being forced to leave your friends for a bunch of stuck-up nobles. If it ever comes to… that, we'll both know."

Rukia sighed and relaxed in his embrace, nodding slightly. She had been stressing out the whole day, worrying about how to tell him, and it had been all for nothing. She was not leaving this academy without him. "Uzumaki Rukia sounds infinitely better," she mumbled out as she drifted off to sleep."

* * *

**Shakkaho incantation: **"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"

{Gin's Shikai; **Shoot to Kill, God Spear**}

I see a lot of people get reishi, reiatsu and reiryoku confused, so I'll briefly explain all three to end the confusion.

**Reiatsu: **is the physical force/pressure that a person's Reiryoku creates when released. The difference between spiritual pressure and spiritual energy is simple: **Reiryoku** is the amount of energy a being has stored within their body or soul, whereas **Reiatsu** is the pressure that a person's Reiryoku exerts.

**Reishi: **is the main component material of souls. This includes the spiritual bodies of Hollows and Shinigami, and the two planes of existence, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society in their entirety.

Now then, I don't want complaints or flames about Rukia's decision. I don't see enough of a reason for her to accept when I weigh what she gains vs. what she loses.

Now harem will be:

Rukia

Isane

Nemu

Unohana

Soifon

Yoruichi

And that's it. I don't want too many. Next chapter will finish up the academy.

A couple of people were confused about Kira's name, so I'll clarify now. Izuru is actually his first name, while Kira is his family name. But everyone just calls him Kira, so I will too. Same with Ishida.

Read and review, and point out spelling or grammatical errors please. Spell check doesn't spot everything.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything concerning Naruto or Bleach in anyway.

Kido incantation translations will be at the end of each chapter.

The harem is now as follows (new additions are **bold**):

Rukia

Nemu

Isane

Unohana

Soifon

Yoruichi

**Tia Harribel**

I added Harribel because of how many people wanted her in. Hinamori will not be added in, but Matsumoto might be if enough people ask me to include her.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto and Rukia were walking hand-in-hand through the academy towards their respective classes. They had woken up in each other's arms and had been unable to look each other in the eye until they had both gotten their blushes under control.

"What kind of abilities do you think your zanpakuto will have, Naruto?" Rukia asked curiously.

"Hmm… well, it could be anything, right?" Naruto tapped his chin in thought. "In any case, I'll at least have a hint after this morning's Jinzen session. I _really _hate sitting still and doing nothing, but if it gets me closer to having a zanpakuto of my own, I'll bear through it. What about you?"

Rukia shook her head. "Class 2 isn't starting Jinzen until our second year. I'll have to wait before we're allowed to try and form a connection between our zanpakuto. This is so unfair. By the time I get mine, you'll probably have mastered yours!"

Naruto was about to respond, until the two of them rounded the corner and came face to face with Kuchiki Byakuya.

"K-Kuchiki-taicho," Rukia gasped in surprise.

"I have come for your answer, Rukia. Do you accept my offer to become a member of the Kuchiki Clan?" The tall, intimidating man asked her seriously.

Rukia glanced over at Naruto, and found her resolve from the look in his eyes. Stepping forward, without breaking her grip on Naruto's hand, she gulped and stared up into the emotionless eyes of the Kuchiki Clan head. "With all due respect Kuchiki-taicho, I must decline your gracious offer."

Byakuya seemed to take her answer in stride, not the barest hint of a reaction on his face or in his body language. He glanced over at the boy beside her and met the blonde's stare with his own. For almost a minute, the entire hall was silent, as it seemed a battle of wills was taking place between Naruto and Byakuya. Neither was backing down, and neither was intimidated, which was more impressive on Naruto's part than it was on Byakuya's. "I see." Byakuya finally said. "You are Uzumaki Naruto of Class 1, are you not?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, surprised that someone like Kuchiki Byakuya would know his name. "I am. And you should know it would reflect badly upon the Kuchiki clan if the clan's head did not use a person's given name when addressing them. _Uzumaki_ Rukia wishes to become a shinigami because of her own hard work, not the influence of a noble clan…Kuchiki-taicho."

This time Byakuya did react, raising an eyebrow as he turned to look at the now blushing girl beside Uzumaki, who nodded in agreement with his assessment of her desires. This was an…unexpected development, but not an unacceptable one. He firmly believed Hisana would approve of Rukia's decision. Even he felt a bit of respect for her goal to become a shinigami on her own merits. Still, perhaps there was at least one thing he could do to help her. "I understand. I apologize for my rudeness, Uzumaki Rukia. If you will excuse me, I shall take my leave now."

Naruto and Rukia watched as the rokubantai taicho walked away from them and soon left their view. As soon as they believed he had left the area, Rukia spun around and started shaking Naruto by the front of his uniform. "Naruto! What were you thinking, addressing Kuchiki-taicho like that?!"

"If you stop shaking me I can answer," Naruto managed to say, despite the headache he was now getting from her.

Rukia blinked and released her grip on his uniform and stepped back to give him time to recover. "Sorry. But Naruto, you don't just talk to a noble clan head like that! What if he has you killed or expelled from the academy, or had you banished from Seireitei or—"

"First of all, calm down. You're jumping to outrageous conclusions. Second, he won't do anything of the sort. What you need to know Rukia, is that uptight nobles like him are always concerned with appearance and reputation. It's how they earn the respect they have." Naruto said knowledgeably. "By pointing out that you have a formal name now, it lets him save face. Imagine for a moment, if he came back later and just called you Rukia, when others had already found about your new name beforehand. He'd look ignorant, wouldn't he? Such rudeness would disgrace the Kuchiki clan. Not a lot, I admit, but any at all is probably unacceptable for him."

Rukia blinked at the logic and forethought behind Naruto's words, shocked he'd thought that far ahead. "I never knew nobility required so much…subtlety and forethought."

"You have no idea. You think that was something? Try having to mediate a dinner between two clans with a feud. There are so many concessions that need to be made, niceties that need to be observed, traditions, customs and rules to abide by, it's a nightmare!" Naruto exclaimed.

Rukia smiled, taking his hand again as they continued their walk to their classes. "And you know this from experience?"

"I do. I'd rather fight a captain than try to play diplomat again." Naruto said. "It's just not me."

* * *

Though Rukia was normally very attentive and studious, even she was slowly drifting off during _another_ lecture on defeating hollows. Aim for the mask. That was it, wasn't it? She was starting to suspect their instructor was using their lecture time as a way to recount every battle he'd personally been in against hollows, considering he'd slipped up a few times and replaced "you" with "I" when describing the proper course of action.

She was startled by a loud slamming coming from the classroom door, as an overenthusiastic student came running in to hand their instructor a note. As the man read through it, his expression shifted from boredom to confusion and finally to shock. "Ahem, Uzumaki Rukia?" He called out to Class 2.

Rukia perked up, wondering how her new name had been discovered so quickly. "That's me…" She tried to ignore the whispering about her connection to the prodigy, Uzumaki Naruto, in Class 1. Most of them were right, though a few had speculated that she was his sister or, heaven forbid, daughter.

"Yes, well, you're being moved up to Class 1." The instructor informed her, still unable to believe what he was saying. Never before had a student moved up to Class 1 from Class 2. Several people had been sent down, but never the other way.

Rukia blinked and gathered up her things, taking the note on her way out. As if a light flipped on in her head, the second the door closed behind her, she knew how this had happened.

Kuchiki Byakuya.

* * *

"What makes you think it was him?" Renji asked.

Rukia had immediately headed straight for Class 1 with her note of transfer. As soon as Oounabara had read the note out, the entire class had reacted in surprise and shock, before turning towards Naruto who nodded in confirmation. The group of friends, sitting at the back of the classroom this time, had chosen to ignore the useless lecture on Quincy abilities and battle tactics to focus on the reason for Rukia's presence in this class, along with her new name.

"It has to be him. Other than the two of us, no one else knew about her taking my name as we only decided to do this last night," Naruto reasoned. "Not to mention, he's definitely got enough influence to pull something like this. But I still don't know why he'd do this."

"Hmm, maybe once he saw that you two were so affectionate and close, he wanted to make sure Rukia would be closer to Naruto-kun?" Hinamori suggested with a giggle.

Renji scoffed. "You think someone like him actually cares about the love life of two first year academy students? He probably did it because Rukia was the top in her class for everything. She deserves to be here."

"Now Rukia will be able to work on obtaining her zanpakuto earlier like the rest of us," Kira said cheerfully. "I mean, if the rest of us had to wait for her to gain her shikai just so we could complete our pact, who knows how long it would take?"

Naruto winced as he heard the impact of Rukia's foot smashing into Kira at a place all men felt sympathy for.

The irritated Rukia crossed her arms in a huff and set her head down on Naruto's shoulder as he decided to finally start taking a few notes. Even though it wasn't likely they'd ever encounter a Quincy in battle, he still needed to at least pass the written exam on them next week.

* * *

Three hours later, Oounabara personally led the class out to a large grassy field, similar in size to the Kido field, though noticeably lacking in targets. "Listen up! Today we'll be starting Jinzen! This method is the only way to carry on a proper conversation with your Zanpakuto. Sit down and place your blank sword over your lap, and meditate until you force your mind to become one with the Zanpakuto spirit."

Naruto, Kira, Renji, Hinamori, and Rukia all sat down on the grass in a circle, placing the blank Zanpakuto over their laps, each of them sporting a wide smile, grin or smirk. This was the moment they had all been waiting for. Even Naruto, Kira and Hinamori, with their love for Kido, had been anticipating the acquisition of their Zanpakuto.

"In this state, one can call out to the true form of their Zanpakuto. This process has been refined over thousands of years, since the beginning of Soul Society, to allow shinigami to commune with their Zanpakuto." Oounabara said to the students spread out on the field. He did not fail to notice the top students in his class had gathered together with the newest addition, Uzumaki Rukia. "This advanced form of training is far different from attaining your abilities by force. It is about entering a state of calm to venture into the inner world of your Zanpakuto spirits and engaging them there. In this state, you will be tested by your Zanpakuto spirit, and only if they deem you worthy, will you hear their name and be allowed access to their abilities in battle."

Naruto slowly closed his eyes, setting his hands atop the sheathed sword, and tried to remain perfectly still, as he'd done for Sennin mode so long ago. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, perfectly still. Without the feeling of natural energy entering his body, time was hard to judge in a state of complete calm. All around him, he heard nothing. It seemed as if the other students were working towards this goal as hard as he was.

The first indication that something had changed, was when he felt a light breeze blow through his hair. It was not the wind simply blowing in the area. It had felt deliberate, as if someone had just run their fingers through his hair. Opening his eyes, he now found himself sitting cross-legged atop the surface of a lake. Slowly standing up, he couldn't claim to be surprised that he was able to stand and walk around on the water's surface.

Looking down, he saw the still reflection of a crescent moon in the water. However, when he glanced up, there was no moon in the sky to be reflected. There were no stars above him either. It was just pure darkness that his eyes could not breach. "How am I supposed to find my Zanpakuto spirit here?" Assuming there had to be some sort of trick or secret, he inspected the water beneath him, believing that was where he'd find his answers.

He walked across the lake towards the moon's reflection and smirked at what he found. The moon's reflection provided the only source of light in the area, and was able to finally reveal something that had floated into its range. Just under the water's surface was a white lotus blossom, but it was floating upside down. The beautiful white petals were pointed down into the water.

Then he figured it out.

"I'm not on top of the lake," Naruto muttered. "I'm underneath it!"

As if someone had heard his words, he felt something grip his leg and pull him down into the waters. He was forced to suddenly hold his breath as he was dragged into the water without warning. He felt his head spinning as he was dragged down, losing all sense of direction. When his lungs could take no more, he released the breath he'd been holding, only for him to surface from the lake. Greedily breathing in fresh air, he noticed he was now looking at this world correctly.

Floating on the lake's surface around his head were the white lotus blossoms, with the petals spread apart for him to observe their beauty in full. High above his head was the crescent moon he'd seen reflected in the water, bathing him in bright white light.

"Did you forget that, though you were originally beneath my waters, you had no problems breathing? Had you remained calm, you would have surfaced instantly. Instead, you struggled unnecessarily because you could not connect what you know, and what you had just experienced here in my world."

Naruto spun around sharply and saw a beautiful, statuesque blonde woman walking barefoot across the lake towards him. Her hair was held up in a bun with two white needles that held brilliant crimson rubies embedded at their base. She wore an elegant white gown that left her back completely bare and was made specifically to allow her midriff to be seen through a square-shaped cut in the middle. The reason the dress left her back completely bare was soon revealed, as a pair of white-feathered wings emerged in a burst of light and split apart, revealing their full wingspan to him.

"I take it you're my Zanpakuto spirit?" Naruto asked, amazed.

She held up a hand to hide her mouth as she smiled. "Correct. My name is—"

Naruto blinked. "What was that? I didn't hear you."

"Ah, that's right. I have to test you first before you'll be able to hear my name." The woman said in realization. She reached up her left hand and plucked out a feather from her left wing, holding it up for him to see clearly. "All you have to do…is prevent the feather from reaching the lake." She clasped her hand around the feather and extended her arm out, turning her hand upside down slowly.

"That's it? That doesn't seem so hard." Naruto said, mentally judging the distance between them. Though they hadn't been taught real shunpo yet, he felt he could still make it to her before the feather actually reached the lake's surface. He watched her fist, waiting for the exact moment she opened it to start heading for the feather. He was confused when she hadn't opened her hand in almost a minute, but when she finally did, he thought he saw a flash of disappointment of her face, but it was gone when he blinked.

He attempted to use his Hoho abilities to get across the lake, but found he could not. "What the—?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that Hoho is forbidden for this test?" The woman asked innocently with a wide smirk.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto started running across the lake. His running speed was nothing to scoff at, but he had judged the distance manageable for high speed movement, not running. He watched, almost in slow-motion, as the beautiful white feather drifted lower and lower, towards the water's surface. Realizing he wasn't going to make it at this rate, he dove towards the feather with his arm outstretched and only just managed to pin it between his fingers, not one inch above the water. "I—I got it!"

"You fail."

"What?!" Naruto asked in shock. "Hold on—" But before he could demand answers from her, he saw the world around him blurring together until it completely vanished.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes, and winced at the bright light. Looking around through his squinting eyes, he saw others slowly coming out of their meditative state as well, with not a single one of them looking cheerful or ecstatic.

No one had passed.

He looked down at the sword on his lap and was surprised to find it had changed appearance even though he'd failed. The sword had elongated slightly, making it longer than a normal katana, but still far shorter than a nodachi. The hilt was pure white, just like the wings on his Zanpakuto's spirit had been, while the sheath was a dark blue. The guard took the appearance of two teardrops forming around the sides of a third. Testing with his finger, he found, to his disappointment, that the tips on the three were not sharp enough to draw blood.

Glancing around his circle of friends, he saw that only Rukia and Kira had opened their eyes so far, and they too possessed unique Zanpakuto now. Giving them both a questioning look, they shook their heads. "Damn, none of us managed to pass our tests, huh?"

"It appears that way, but we won't know for sure until Renji and Hinamori finish their tests," Kira commented. "But I'm surprised that you didn't, Naruto. Out of all of us, you're the most skilled. I can't imagine what kind of test you must have been given if you failed it."

"That's the thing though. The test she gave me sounds simple enough. And by all rights, I should have passed. I did manage to complete the objective she gave me, even though it was really close." Naruto said, trying to think of one good reason he failed.

"Oh? What was the test, Naruto?" Rukia asked, interested.

Naruto explained about the objective she had given him, how she had waited with the feather in her hand for so long, her restricting his Hoho abilities, and his achievement of actually catching the feather.

"What were her actual words, Naruto?" Kira asked him.

"Prevent the feather from reaching the lake." Naruto quoted from memory. "I completed my task, didn't I?"

"Well, it sounds like it at first," Kira agreed. "But focusing more on her words and her actions upon initiating the test, I don't think it's as simple as that. She never told you to _catch_ the feather, did she?"

"Well…no," Naruto admitted. "But how else am I going to stop the feather from reaching the lake?"

"I see where you're going with this Kira!" Rukia exclaimed with wide eyes. "Naruto could destroy the feather with Kido!"

Kira nodded in thought. "I have considered that possibility, but I don't think that is what Naruto is meant to do. I suspect the answer lies more in the fact that she held onto the feather for a full minute, doing nothing but waiting. What purpose did that serve? To throw off Naruto's concentration and drop it when she felt he had relaxed? No, I believe Naruto is meant to somehow stop her from releasing the feather at all." Kira deduced.

"Hmm… I think I could do that," Naruto said pensively. His attention was drawn over to Renji and Hinamori who had finally opened their eyes again. "Did either of you two succeed?"

"No! Those two stupid…argh!" Renji gritted out, making a strangling motion in the air with his hands. "All they did was piss me off! I hope your Zanpakuto spirits were at least tolerable."

"Anyone that can piss of Renji like that is alright in my book!" Naruto exclaimed with a smirk.

"My Zanpakuto's spirit was…cold. It didn't seem like she even cared whether I passed or not," Rukia said to Renji.

"My Zanpakuto spirit was very polite, courteous, and friendly," Hinamori said with a smile.

"My Zanpakuto's spirit was…depressing. I couldn't look at him without feeling despair. I shudder to think what his abilities might be," Kira said worriedly.

"Alright! Since we've been here for two hours now and it seems that no one's achieved their shikai yet, you can all head on to Kido practice." Oounabara called out to the students.

"We were sitting for two hours?!" Naruto asked the others in shock. "Man, my shikai better be worth all this sitting still."

* * *

Their time as students at the academy had passed by far too soon for Naruto's liking. In his second year, Unohana Retsu had come by personally and requested to take him as her student in Kido, replacing the Kido lessons he would receive at the academy. She had claimed it would be a shame to squander his talents. The academy instructor had protested initially, but had backed down quickly when Unohana had asked if he had any objections.

Something about her smile had seemed dangerous.

Though Naruto was against receiving specialized lessons when his friends could not, he simply started teaching Kira, Hinamori, and Rukia everything he had learned about Kido from Unohana-taicho for several hours each night. He had been learning everything he could from her for four straight years now, and teaching as much as he could to his friends, though their progression was far slower than his own.

Now they were 6th years and about to lead a group of 1st years on their first trip to the human world for their final exam, just as Hisagi Shuhei had done for them five years ago. The only thing that still irked him was that in their group of friends, he was the only one still unable to obtain his shikai. Renji had been the first to achieve his, and had been showing off Zabimaru almost non-stop for the entire second year.

Kira and Hinamori had both achieved theirs in their third year, and just as Kira had predicted during their first Jinzen session, Wabisuke's abilities were truly devastating. At least it had shut Renji up during their first spar. Hinamori's Tobiume was able to launch fireballs from her blade with great speed and power, and much to Naruto's amusement, she had used them to defeat Kira by fighting him from range.

Rukia had unleashed Sode no Shirayuki just last year, and her Zanpakuto was just as beautiful as its owner. The beautiful white katana was supposedly capable of using ice-based attacks, though Rukia admitted she had not actually discovered how to use any of them yet.

Naruto had been trying to complete his Zanpakuto's test every day for the last six years, and had not had any success. It hadn't been as simple as Kira said, for when he started running towards her before she released the feather, she simply dropped it immediately without the one minute waiting period. Every time had resulted in a failure. How was he supposed to stop her from releasing the feather, if she did it anyway the moment he started running? She wouldn't even let him use shunpo now that he had learned it.

Shaking away these thoughts, he grabbed his zanpakuto and fastened it over his shoulder with a dark violet strap and a silver snowflake crest that Rukia had given him as a gift last year. Arriving in front of the gate with shunpo, he saw the 1st year students already waiting, looking excited for their first trip to the human world.

The next to arrive was Rukia, wearing her Zanpakuto at her hip. Ever since he had taught it to her, Rukia had been working on Hado #33: Sokatsui until she could not only use it without an incantation, but use it in rapid bursts as well. It had become her favorite and most used Kido spell.

"Who's setting up the dummy-hollows, Naruto?" Rukia asked.

"The junibantai fuku-taicho, Kurotsuchi Nemu is setting them up for us. She told me her captain created them specifically for our test today." Naruto explained to her. "He creeps me out a lot, and reminds me of a sick bastard I knew in life, but he's the head of the SRDI, so he's got to know his stuff."

As soon as Renji, Hinamori, and Kira arrived, Naruto coughed into his fist, drawing the attention of the gathered 1st year students. "Good morning. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Beside me are Uzumaki Rukia, Abarai Renji, Hinamori Momo, and Kira Izuru. We'll be leading you through your dummy-hollow test today."

"There is a specially arranged area in the human world we'll be working in. Other 6th year students have gone ahead to prepare a barrier around the area to keep out real hollows from entering, but it is not foolproof. If a real hollow does slip through, come find one of us immediately, or flare your reiatsu, and we'll come take care of it." Rukia said.

"Enough talking, let's get this test started! Oi, open the gate!" Renji called out impatiently.

Naruto and Rukia sighed in unison and shook their heads, as they walked through the gate after their friend. "One of these days that mouth of his is going to get him into trouble," Naruto muttered under his breath.

* * *

"Alright, everyone! Now that you've split into groups of three, you are to find a spot for your team away from the others. When we've confirmed everyone's location, we'll release the dummy-hollows." Kira instructed. "Go!"

Renji chuckled as the students all split up. "Just like our first test, right? Now that I think about it, we won't get to do any fighting at all tonight, huh?"

"Of course not, Renji." Hinamori responded. "The point of this test is to give the new students combat experience. Dummy-hollows wouldn't be a challenge to us anymore."

The redhead chuckled and glanced at Naruto. "Except for Naruto. You're the only one without a shikai yet. We're all waiting on you now."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in challenge and held up his hand, palm up, which caused Renji to take a step back in fear. The last time Naruto had done that, he'd been sending Hado #63: Raikoho out of his hand.

"Alright, Renji, since you think you're so tough with Zabimaru, you and Kira can go confirm the students' locations. The rest of us will wait here at the rendezvous point for the students when they finish." Naruto said smugly.

"Why am I being sent too?" Kira complained.

"Never mind that and come on!" Renji grabbed the back of Kira's uniform and left with shunpo to check on the students, grumbling the whole way about having to watch the kids.

Naruto gripped his collar and turned on the microphone attached on the inside. "Matsuda, how's the barrier holding?" Naruto frowned when he didn't receive a response back. "Matsuda, how is the barrier holding? Matsuda? Sanosuke? Eiji? Someone respond."

Hinamori and Rukia glanced at each other in worry as Naruto kept trying to contact the Kido group for almost five minutes. The situation was starting to become eerily familiar.

"Damn it, no one's answering." Naruto told the two of them.

"Naruto, Renji and Kira haven't flared their reiatsu yet either. Shouldn't they have finished by now?" Hinamori asked, concerned about her other two friends.

Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance as he thought about what to do. "Okay, Rukia and Hinamori, you two go find Kira and Renji. Make sure they're alright. I'm going to go check on the barrier team and find out what's wrong."

Rukia and Hinamori nodded and headed off to find the others as Naruto used shunpo to head towards the tower where the Kido group was stationed. The second he stepped inside, the overwhelming stench of blood and death flooded his senses. There all around his feet, were the dead bodies of the entire Kido group.

Kneeling down, he inspected several of the bodies and found they were all killed by a stab through the chest. There were no rips, tears, slashes, or even injuries from blunt force trauma. He suspected a hollow attack, but he'd never heard of a hollow being this…clean with its kills.

Naruto suddenly spun around, pulling out his Zanpakuto, and held it level at Kurotsuchi Nemu's neck. "Kurotsuchi fuku-taicho? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you have been setting up the dummy-hollows?"

"The dummy-hollows have been destroyed. They were all cut apart, though I am unsure how it was done, as I was looking right at them," Nemu answered calmly, unperturbed at the sword beside her neck.

Naruto frowned in thought. "Kido team dead, dummy-hollows destroyed…my friends not signaling!" Naruto turned around, about to head off and search for his friends, until a loud echoing roar sounded off through the night. Quickly exiting the tower, he saw a large hollow walking towards the tower, five massive claws on each hand.

"So, you're the one that killed them, huh?" Naruto asked, raising his left arm towards the approaching hollow. "Alright, time to pay you back in full for all the blood you've spilled. Sanzai suru, kemono no hone! Sento, kosho, kotetsu no sharin. Ugokeba kaze, tomareba sora. Yariutsu neiro ga kojo ni michiru! Hado #63: Raikoho!"

A bright yellow ball quickly formed at the palm of his hand, which was then fired at the hollow in a massive concentrated strike. The large lightning bolt blasted straight towards the hollow's mask, only for the hollow to reach up and slash apart the spell with its right claw, dissipating it without taking any injuries.

"Uzumaki-san, I believe this hollow is capable of negating reiatsu-based attacks so long as it still possesses its claws. It seems you will have to physically remove those first before your Kido will be of any use," Nemu assessed.

Naruto frowned in annoyance and held his Zanpakuto at the ready in his right hand, as the hollow roared in challenge. "Seems I have no choice. Kurotsuchi fuku-taicho, can you go and find the others? If they're injured, please bring them back to Seireitei for treatment."

"Very well."

Just as the calm and stoic vice-captain left the area, the hollow started charging in once more, bringing its left claw down to try and cut him to pieces. Naruto raised his Zanpakuto above his head, and managed to block the massive claw, though the strength behind the attack nearly drove him to his knees. He pulled his Zanpakuto away and jumped to the side, letting the claw smash into the ground beside him. While it was buried in the destroyed concrete, he turned and brought his blade down in a powerful two-handed slash at the hollow's wrist. To his dismay, he was only able to inflict a shallow cut on the hollow, hardly drawing any blood.

"Oh, come on! This thing can stop Kido _and_ has extremely tough skin?" Naruto cried out in irritation.

The hollow raised its right claw up and sent Naruto flying into the wall of another building with a powerful backhand as it managed to pry its other one out of the ground. Naruto, who had been smacked into the wall on what would be the fourth floor of the building, fell off of it and straight to the ground, landing on his already injured back. Fighting past the pain, Naruto quickly rolled along the ground to his left, avoiding the claws that had just stabbed down where his body had been not one second ago. He slowly rose to his feet, and held out his Zanpakuto in front of him to stop the hollow's claws from piercing his body.

All five of the very deadly claws were pressing against the flat of his blade, which he was straining to keep steady. This hollow was strong, far stronger than he was, and he felt his arms quickly tiring from trying to hold back the hollow's attack. He glanced down to his Zanpakuto in fear as he heard a crack coming from his sword. The sharp claws were starting to break through. Before he could disengage and retreat, the claws shattered his Zanpakuto and pinned him to the wall, three of the claws piercing through his midsection while the other two were embedded in the wall on either side of him.

Naruto hunched over, coughing up blood onto the hollow's arm, and stared at his shattered Zanpakuto still held firmly in his right hand. "This w-wouldn't have happened…if you'd just given me your name…"

The hollow lifted its head to the sky and roared in triumph as it brought its left claw up to finish the job. The five deadly sharp claws were quickly closing in on him, yet Naruto did not look away, determined to face his death head on. As he watched, the claws started slowing down. No, not just the claws. Everything around him was slowing down, and losing all traces of color. The world he saw was now in black and white.

"You already know my name, Naruto-kun. You just haven't reached out for me yet."

* * *

Naruto blinked and found himself standing atop the lake in his Zanpakuto's inner world. She was standing across from him again, with her hand outstretched and closed around a feather. "What do you mean, I haven't reached out for you? I've been trying to get to you for six years now!"

The woman shook her head. "Naruto-kun, what's the one thing you haven't tried to do yet? You've obviously learned that running over here won't help you, so how can you pass my test without running towards me? If you can't answer that, the hollow will kill you."

"Well how else am I supposed to stop you from releasing the feather? It's not like I can just…" Naruto stopped. Could he? Was she being literal? All he had to do was reach out for her? Gulping nervously, Naruto slowly started extending out his right hand, without moving a step from his position. Just as he was about to reach the limit his arm could stretch out, a glowing white circle appeared just in front of his hand, which he pushed his arm into. There, extending from a matching white circle, was his arm, coming out just from behind his Zanpakuto's spirit. Excitement coursing through him, he quickly clasped his right hand around hers, preventing her from opening her fist and dropping the feather.

"I… did it." Naruto said in shock.

The woman smiled warmly. "You did it, Naruto-kun. You've opened a 'gate' and completed my test. Recklessness does not suit you, not anymore. Death has changed you for the better. Never hesitate in battle, but neither should you act rashly. Attack relentlessly without sacrificing defense, protect all that is dear to you. Hear my name Naruto, and reach out to me! My name is—"

* * *

"Maiosameru, Tsukinode!"

His reiatsu burst out of him, surrounding him in a blinding white light. The wall behind him shattered and crumbled, and the hollow was forced to retract its claw, as the immense pressure was causing it injury.

When the light faded, Naruto was standing upright, and the injuries inflicted upon him by the hollow were no longer bleeding. In his hands, he held two matching blades, both the purest white color. Though the blades appeared to be straight-edged long swords at first, the blades were covered by intricate designs that seemed to flow over the entire Zanpakuto in a beautiful, yet deadly, manner. Just short of the blade's tip were three sharp spikes, spread apart to faintly resemble a crown, and appeared to be the main way to injure someone with the Zanpakuto. The hilt was ridged and surrounded on both sides by elegant hand guards. Finally, attached to the base of the hilt was a small white chain ending in a pendant shaped like a heart.

"Now then, about those claws of yours…" Naruto lifted up both of the blades, and threw them into the air towards the hollow. However, just moments before they were about to reach the hollow, two glowing white circles, which he now knew to be called gates, appeared in the air, through which Naruto's Zanpakuto vanished. The hollow sent its claw slashing down towards Naruto, but suddenly roared in pain and gripped the remains of its arm. Two gates had appeared on opposite sides of the arm, sending one of Naruto's blades flying out of each which severed it just above the hand, and just below the elbow respectively. They then continued on through two new gates moments before they would have hit the ground.

Two more gates were then opened in front of the hollow's only remaining claw, sending both blades spinning out and slicing their way up the hollow's arm between its claws, until they cut straight through the shoulder. The arm was completely sliced apart, now hanging in three bloody strips on the ground. Rather than enter new gates, both of the blades disappeared in a bright white flash, and reappeared in Naruto's grasp.

The hollow staggered back, the injuries inflicted starting to take their toll. However, it seemed this one would not perish without a fight. Opening the mouth of its mask, it started forming a bright red cero inside, which it then fired straight at him.

Naruto slammed his Zanpakuto into the ground, the three bloody spikes on each blade embedded into the ground and keeping them held up at an angle. Raising his left arm, Naruto created a white gate just in front of it, drawing in the cero. Without bothering to close it, a new gate was formed above the hollow's head, releasing the full power of its own cero down upon the bony white mask.

The crimson red beam blasted straight through, not only the mask, but the hollow's entire body, splitting it down the middle and blowing a crater into the ground just beneath it. The hollow roared one last time in anguish, before the entire body was dispersed into reishi particles and faded away.

Naruto picked up the two blades he had stuck into the ground and smirked. "I'll be counting on you from here on out, Tsukinode-chan." Naruto then remembered that he had still not heard from Rukia or the others and left the area in a burst of shunpo.

* * *

"It's just like you said, Aizen. Someone like him will only get his power in the heat of battle."

"Didn't I tell you, Gin? I am an excellent judge of character. Uzumaki Naruto is a powerful one, and this demonstration has only strengthened my belief that he will continue to grow stronger." The dark-haired man stepped out of the shadows of the now ruined tower and pushed up his glasses with two fingers, reflecting the moonlight off their lenses. "I will be looking forward to watching his development in the future."

The silver-haired captain with the perpetual fox-like grin shook his head as he marveled at the destruction of the previous battle. "Those blades of his look weak, but they were able to slice apart that hollow's arms like butter."

"That is why they impress me so," Aizen stated. "They are deceptively dangerous. Once they've started moving, they are nigh impossible to stop. Just like my plans."

"Ain't that the truth," Gin commented, as the two captains decided they'd seen enough for the night and headed back to Seireitei.

* * *

Naruto arrived at the exact center of the area they'd been assigned and frowned at the massive orange barrier surrounding it. He was surprised when the barrier instantly shattered like glass when he tapped it with his now resealed Zanpakuto. Instantly, he felt the reiatsu of Rukia, Hinamori, Renji and Kira flooding out. "This thing must have been preventing reiatsu, and probably them as well, from escaping," Naruto muttered in realization. "You guys can stop now! Uzumaki Naruto is here to save you!"

The four of them glanced over and stopped flaring their reiatsu. "Naruto!" They called in unison.

Rukia rushed over and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, but stepped back as she felt something wet against her chest. Glancing down, she saw that she was now covered in blood. "Naruto, you're hurt!"

Naruto glanced down and saw that his injuries had started bleeding again. "Oh…the shunpo must have aggravated the wounds. Damn…" Naruto fell forward, only to be caught by Renji and Kira before he reached the ground.

"Typical Naruto, overdoing it again," Renji muttered, hefting Naruto's right arm over his shoulder.

* * *

"Captains, this year's final exam left only five graduating students alive. The rest were killed in a hollow attack, yet the blame for that does not rest on the survivors." Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, ichibantai taicho and sotaicho of the Gotei 13 informed the other eleven gathered captains. "They have all graduated as the top five in their class, and today we shall decide their placement in the Gotei 13. The first is Hinamori Momo. Highly proficient in Kido, scored the highest on the written exams for her year, and is known for being kind, polite and level-headed in a crisis, which she has demonstrated twice now during her time as an academy student."

"I believe such a person would benefit greatly in my division, and would be able to quickly maximize her potential," Aizen spoke up.

Yamamoto looked around the room and saw no objections, so he nodded in acceptance, marking Hinamori's transfer to the gobantai. "The next student is Kira Izuru. He performed equally well in Zanjutsu and Kido, and demonstrated impressive speed in Hoho."

"I believe Kira-san would fit in well with Aizan-sama's division. Not to mention he and Hinamori have shown to be very close friends. Would it not be better to keep them together, then?" Kaname Tosen suggested.

Aizen nodded in support of this decision. "I agree. One should not come between friendship. I would welcome Kira-kun into my division along with Hinamori."

"Any objections?" Yamamoto asked the other captains, receiving unanimous negatives. Nodding in acceptance, he marked down Kira's transfer to the gobantai as well. "Very well. The next student would be Abarai Renji. He scored dead last in Kido, but received impressive marks in Hoho, Hakuda, and Zanjutsu, ranking second place for his class in the latter category."

"Kido deficiency? Will you not let me take him into my division to try and correct that, sotaicho? I believe if Abarai had the ability to utilize Kido as well as a blade, he could become a much more useful shinigami." Aizen stated.

"I have tried teaching Abarai-san Kido, yet he showed not the slightest bit of improvement. Are you implying you would be better suited for the task?" Unohana asked Aizen calmly, the threat hardly veiled behind her words.

"No, of course not, Unohana-taicho. I am simply stating a different approach may be required. The success of your teachings have shown through in another student, am I correct?" Aizen reassured the yonbantai taicho.

Unohana merely nodded, accepting the truth of his words.

"The kid's a born fighter." Zaraki Kenpachi chimed in. "Why would you try and fix that when there's nothing wrong with him? Give him to me, and I'll make him a shinigami to be reckoned with."

"Reports from the academy have labeled Abarai-kun as hot-headed, rash, impatient, and foolhardy." Aizen replied to the massive juichibantai taicho. "Though there is validity in what you say, qualities like those can lead even the greatest fighter to his death. Allow me to take Abarai-kun under my wing so that I may attempt to correct those flaws. If I cannot, I shall offer him a transfer to your division, Zaraki-taicho. Is that acceptable?"

"Yeah, that's fine then." Kenpachi said, nodding.

"Then if there are no further objections, Abarai Renji will be transferred to the gobantai." Yamamoto said, waiting a few minutes for any more reactions, before finally marking it down. "There are only two more students remaining, and I shall be saving the best for last. Uzumaki Rukia is next. Highly skilled in Kido, ranking second overall for her class, she has also shown a marked increase of her skills in Hoho, Hakuda, and Zanjutsu as the years progressed."

"Uzumaki? Does that mean she and Uzumaki-san are married…?" Unohana asked in confusion.

"No. Uzumaki Naruto has simply allowed her to take his name out of his respect and affection for her. She was without a formal name upon entering the academy, so he sought out to rectify that problem." Byakuya informed her calmly.

"Oh? And how do you know all this, Kuchiki-taicho?" Kurotsuchi Mayuri asked the rokubantai taicho shrewdly.

"That would be because Kuchiki-taicho had tried to adopt Uzumaki Rukia into the Kuchiki clan in her first year. She respectfully declined, and chose to remain in the academy alongside her friends." Aizen informed Mayuri factually.

Byakuya glanced over at the captain beside him, suspiciously. "And how would you happen to know all this, Aizen-taicho? This matter was not public knowledge."

Aizen smiled and held up his hands in a half-shrug. "Such information always has a way of being leaked out. Especially by those who would disapprove."

Byakuya narrowed his eyes and turned away from Aizen. The implications of what that man was implying did not sit well with him.

"Is that right? And how does that feel, Kuchiki-taicho, to have been _turned down_ by a little nameless girl because of a mere boy? Does it hurt? Did it wound your pride? The Kuchiki clan turned down for a pathetic student!" Mayuri mocked.

Byakuya did not bother to dignify the fool's taunts with a response.

Yamamoto rapped the tip of his cane hard on the ground three times, drawing all attention back onto him. "Enough! We are here to discuss her placement in the Gotei 13, not squabble over clan affairs."

"Her skill with Kido is truly impressive. I would like to have her in my division, sotaicho." Aizen requested.

"My, don't you think you're being awfully greedy with this year's graduating class, Aizen-taicho?" Mayuri asked critically.

"Ah, but you can not fault my reasoning." Aizen pointed out with a disarming smile. "Each of them managed to outperform the other twenty odd students in their class, an accomplishment in itself, but to also have survived two unpredicted hollow attacks in real world exams? These are rare gems that don't come around that often."

"If it would be alright, I would like to take Uzumaki Rukia into my division," Ukitake Jushiro said to the gathered captains. "She has shown herself to be a calm, kind-hearted person who easily cares for others. A gentle soul like her would be welcome in my division."

"You have a point, Ukitake-taicho. I humbly retract my request for Uzumaki Rukia, and recommend her for your division," Aizen said, the corners of his eyes narrowing as he smiled.

"Accepted. Uzumaki Rukia will be transferred to the jusanbantai." Yamamoto declared, marking it down on her file. "The final student is Uzumaki Naruto. Ranked first in Zanjutsu, Hoho, Hakuda, and Kido, with notes on his incredible progress in the art due to Unohana-taicho's teachings."

"Naturally, I wish for him to join my division and further his studies in Kido," Unohana said. "Every Kido he has learned from me, he is now able to utilize without an incantation and retain full power, or with an incantation for increased power."

"Uzumaki is a fighter, Unohana-taicho, not a healer." Soifon commented. "I read the report he submitted from the final exam. He is a natural leader and an able combatant, two qualities highly valued by my division."

"He is a _protector_, Soifon-taicho, and one can protect without fighting," Unohana asserted. "If my assessment of the situation is correct, would he not wish to protect Uzumaki Rukia at all costs?"

Soifon narrowed her eyes. Unohana-taicho must have been determined not to lose a Kido prodigy like Uzumaki. But she wasn't going to let him slip by either. "If Uzumaki Rukia were to require assistance in a fight, would he simply wait until he had a chance to heal her, or would he leap into the fight and buy her time to escape?"

"I hope you are not suggesting that my division is inferior to your own, Soifon-taicho," Unohana stated threateningly, her eyes now opened and observing the petite woman across from her. "As I said, one _can_ protect without fighting, but there are some situations were action must be taken. There is a higher likelihood of saving someone's life with Kido than there is with a blade."

"Kido can be stopped by other Kido," Soifon countered calmly, only slightly bothered by the warning look from Unohana. Her determination to secure Uzumaki as her new fuku-taicho overrode her fear. "Uzumaki would have more control over the situation with his blades."

"Ara, are you suggesting Uzumaki Rukia's life would be in danger from other shinigami? I know of no other beings capable of utilizing Kido, so that must be what you are implying. Am I correct, Soifon-taicho?" Unohana asked with a slight smile that screamed victory.

"Naruto-kun has such beautiful women fighting over him. I think I'm jealous," Kyoraku Shunsui cut in cheerfully.

Unohana and Soifon both glanced over at the hachibantai taicho, fire dancing behind their eyes. "Did you say something?"

Kyoraku shrunk back, sweat running down his face from the two most beautiful, yet intimidating women in all of Seireitei looking at him with a promise of pain in their eyes. "N-No, I didn't say anything." He managed to stutter out.

Yamamoto rapped his cane on the ground once more, cutting off all discussion and bringing the attention back on him. "In this situation, I shall ask for recommendations from the other nine captains. Arguments have been made for both the nibantai and the yonbantai. Please declare your decision now."

"He survived because of his Zanpakuto, didn't he? Put him in the nibantai." Gin said casually, his ever-present smirk growing slightly wider as he cast his vote.

"Uzumaki-kun is still young, and has only just graduated from the academy. Even if he is determined to become a masterful Kido user, it will not happen for a long time. Until then, let him focus on the skills that will develop faster. I recommend Uzumaki Naruto for the nibantai," Aizen said rationally.

"Uzumaki Naruto is…different, from what I expected him to be upon graduating. He is similar to Abarai, and yet a complete mirror opposite. He is eager to fight, but more than that, he is a calm, tactical thinker. He proved himself to be a capable leader, and places higher value on the lives of his friends than he does on his own. Such selflessness could only be cultured in the yonbantai." Byakuya explained.

"Hmm, rather than his actions, I believe we should look at his motives. Why does he fight? For the sake of fighting? No, the only reason he would draw his sword is to protect the life of another. He is a noble and honorable shinigami, and seems to know the value of life. I recommend Uzumaki Naruto for the yonbantai." Komamura Sajin said deeply from behind his helmet.

"Ah, well, no offense to Soifon-taicho, but I'm far more afraid of Unohana-taicho, who is extremely beautiful as always." Kyoraku complimented the woman who was staring at him expectantly. His words had not even phased her cheerful smile, which promised him so much pain. "S-So therefore, I recommend Uzumaki Naruto for the yonbantai!"

"As expected of the hachibantai taicho, recommending someone for such a disgraceful reason." Kaname insulted. "Uzumaki Naruto firmly believes in justice, and fights with that ideal in his heart. He lives by it, and would die by it. That is who I believe Uzumaki Naruto is, and why I recommend him for the nibantai."

"The kid's a fighter, born and bred. Let him grow stronger until he actually poses a challenge, instead of hindering him by teaching him useless Kido. I say, put him in the nibantai." Kenpachi said with a grin.

"Uzumaki Naruto doesn't interest me. Put him wherever you want," Mayuri said, until he saw the warning look from Yamamoto, making him realize he'd have to actually put forth a vote. "Fine, stick him in the yonbantai."

Everyone, save Mayuri, glanced at Ukitake who now had the tiebreaker vote. "I agree with Komamura-taicho in his assessment of Naruto-kun's motivations. He fights to protect, but the issue is that he would fight at all." Ukitake explained.

Ukitake took a moment to cough into his fist. "If there were others injured on the ground around him, and people _being_ injured as they were still fighting an enemy, would he hasten to treat the wounded, or assist the remaining combatants? I do believe Uzumaki Naruto will fight to protect, but I also suspect that unless he protects everyone, he will have considered it a failure. While he treats the wounded, one or more of the remaining combatants could die instead of being injured. On the other hand, if he assists the combatants in battle, one or more of the people already injured could succumb to their injuries and perish. He would take this personally, considering it his fault that they died, and that could prove disastrous. Self-doubt can cripple anyone, after all. I therefore recommend Uzumaki Naruto for the nibantai."

"Then it is decided. Uzumaki Naruto shall be placed in the nibantai!" Yamamoto declared, leaving no room for further discussion on the subject. Soifon was looking rather pleased, though Unohana didn't seem too bothered by the result.

* * *

Naruto slowly cracked his eyes open, only to cry out in pain as the bright light of the room mercilessly stung his eyes. He sat up and clasped both hands over his eyes, hissing and wincing in pain. "Damn it why is the room so bright?!"

"Uzumaki-kun, yelling is not tolerated in the yonbantai barracks. Please keep your voice down."

Naruto froze, a chill running down his spine. He recognized that voice. That frighteningly calm voice that belied the threat implied in the words. Slowly dropping his hands and blinking his eyes open, he saw that the person smiling down at him was the one he had suspected.

Unohana Retsu.

"Ah, h-hai, Unohana-taicho. C-Can I be released now?" Naruto asked with beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Yes, your injuries have been healed over the last few days, so I see no reason why you should have to stay. In case you are wondering, you've been assigned to the nibantai under Soifon-taicho. However should you wish to continue learning Kido from me, please feel free to visit when you can. I would be more than happy to instruct you." Unohana said with a warm smile, which Naruto couldn't help but return.

"Hai, Unohana-taicho. I'd be glad to continue learning from you." Naruto said as he climbed out of the bed, noticing his entire chest had been bandaged. Feeling around with his hand, he noticed that the previously wounded area was not even sore or tender. He slowly peeled off the bandages and smiled as he did not even have scars remaining. He glanced up and saw that Unohana-taicho had not left his room. Rather, she seemed to have been staring intently at him for some reason. "A-Ano, Unohana-taicho? Is something the matter?"

"No, Uzumaki-kun. Everything is just perfect." Unohana answered him with a smile, as she left his room.

Naruto blinked at her odd behavior, surprised that she had changed from adding san to the end of his name, as she had over the course of his academy years, to kun. "Well, better go meet up with Soifon-taicho. I've got to get working on mastering Tsukinode's abilities."

He quickly got dressed, grabbing his Zanpakuto resting beside the bed, and sped off via shunpo.

* * *

Naruto was met at the gates to the nibantai barracks by the enormous fuku-taicho who had first brought him to the academy, Omaeda. "Wow, you were serious about being the lieutenant of the stealth-orientated division? It's kind of hard to see how you could sneak up on an enemy."

"I'm the strongest in our division after Soifon-taicho, gaki! I was handpicked because of my super amazing shinigami skills," Omaeda boasted.

"You brag about your so-called skills all the time, but you hardly look like someone suited for the nibantai." Naruto insulted.

"Huh? You trying to start something, bastard?" Omaeda asked, leaning in close to stare at Naruto in what he thought was a threatening manner.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed by the threat. "If I was, someone like you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"You little…fine! We'll settle this in front of the whole division, including Soifon-taicho! Follow me, if you're not afraid that is, gaki." Omaeda said as he started heading into the courtyard, calling out for everyone to come watch him kick the new guy's ass.

Naruto rolled his eyes and followed after the walking pile of blubber to the main courtyard which he noticed was large enough for a full scale fight. He tightened the sash around his chest that kept his Zanpakuto attached to his back, and started stretching, watching as more and more shinigami fully garbed in black shinobi-like outfits started arriving, surrounding the two of them.

It wasn't long before Omaeda's yelling finally reached the captain's ears, as Soifon herself arrived to slam her fist into the back of Omaeda's head, sending him crashing to the ground. "What are you yelling about?! You're so loud, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other captains started coming over and complaining about you!"

"B-But taicho, this kid wants to fight me! I wanted you to see that someone like him couldn't defeat your lieutenant, so I called everyone here!" Omaeda explained as he stood back up.

Soifon paused, thinking it over. This wasn't how she expected it to go, but it suited her just fine. Even her lieutenant's influential clan couldn't complain if Omaeda lost his position in a fair match. "You want to fight the newest member? Fine. But if he wins, then he becomes the new nibantai fuku-taicho. After all, if you can't even beat a fresh academy graduate, you're not worth of being my lieutenant."

Omaeda paused, momentarily worried about losing his position, but passed it off quickly. This kid probably didn't even have his Shikai yet. "Fine with me, taicho! Oi, gaki, you ready to go?"

Naruto pulled out his Zanpakuto and smirked. "That's my line. Show me what our current division's lieutenant can do."

Omaeda chuckled and unsheathed his own Zanpakuto. "You'll be regretting those words in a second, gaki! Buttsubuse, Gegetsuburi!" Omaeda's katana with the bright yellow handle and brass octagonal-shaped guard began glowing and shifting form. Gegetsuburi transformed into an oversized spiked ball connected to a long chain which was attached to the hilt of his sword, similar to a flail, which Naruto assumed allowed for it to be thrown at a distant target. "How do you like that? Isn't my Shikai amazing? Does it scare you? Are you regretting your choice to challenge me? If you get on your knees and beg, I might just forgive you."

"As if I would ever grovel or beg before you. Maiosameru, Tsukinode!" Naruto called out. His own Zanpakuto was surrounded by a flash of bright white light, which then separated into two matching blades, one for each hand.

Omaeda was surprised his opponent already knew his Zanpakuto's name, but started laughing after taking one look at the blades. "Th-That's your Zanpakuto? They look so weak and frail! I bet Gegetsuburi could smash right through both of them without stopping! And look how girly they are! What kind of man would use something that looks like that?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, and felt Tsukinode pulsing in his hands. "You shouldn't have said that. Tsukinode is a _woman_, and hates being called girly or childish. And I'm honored to have her as my Zanpakuto. I respect her and would happily die in battle wielding her!"

Omaeda stopped laughing and scoffed. "Trying to act cool, huh? Let's see how cool you look when Gegetsuburi smashes those girly blades to pieces!" Omaeda lifted his Zanpakuto and started spinning the massive ball around by the chain, before sending it straight towards Naruto, intending to finish their fight in a single blow.

Naruto made a show of yawning in boredom, as a bright white gate opened directly in front of him. Gegetsuburi flew straight through the gate and emerged through another directly beneath Omaeda, smashing itself between his legs.

A loud groan emanated from the gathered onlookers, and even Soifon had to wince at the look of pain embedded on Omaeda's face.

Naruto twisted his wrists, turning Tsukinode over and over in his hands. He pulled back his right arm and swung the right blade forward, releasing a bright white burst of energy that quickly took the shape of a horizontal crescent moon as it flew through the air. Omaeda was caught on the inside curve of the crescent moon, and sent flying back into the wall of the main barracks, the two tips of the crescent moon pining him against the wall tightly. Naruto then swung his left blade forward, releasing a second burse of energy.

This time, the crescent moon was vertical and facing the opposite direction, with the outer curve rapidly approaching Omaeda. However, right at the last second, it was revealed that Naruto had missed on purpose, as the crescent moon sliced straight through the building like butter, not one inch from Omaeda's right arm, and kept travelling through the entire complex until it blasted apart the stone wall at the other end of the courtyard, located on the complete opposite side of the barracks.

Soifon was a little irritated that Naruto had damaged so much of her division's barracks, but would let it slide this time, as Naruto had undoubtedly won this battle, if the look of fear and pain mixed on Omaeda's face was any indication. "I think we all know the result of this match. Uzumaki Naruto is the winner, and new nibantai fuku-taicho!" Soifon walked over to the still trapped Omaeda and pulled the lieutenant's badge from his arm and tossed it to Naruto, who fastened it around his own left arm before dispersing the crescent moon keeping Omaeda pinned.

The gathered Onmitsukido members all nodded in respect to their new vice-captain, as several of them headed over to Omaeda and used shunpo to bring him to the yonbantai barracks while the rest all disappeared from his view in a burst of quick shunpo.

"I'll be expecting a lot out of you from now on, Uzumaki." Soifon said with a slight smirk, setting her hand on his shoulder for a moment, before walking back into the barracks towards her office.

Naruto glanced down at the new badge on his arm and smiled, watching his captain head inside. "Hai…Soifon-taicho."

* * *

**Raikoho incantation:** "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the sky. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!"

{Naruto's Shikai; **Dance the Last Dance, ****Moonrise**}

{Omaeda's Shikai; **Crush, Five-Formed Head**}

For anyone who noticed, yes Naruto's Zanpakuto takes the form of two keyblades. I'm a Kingdom Hearts fan, which I don't own by the way. There's a picture of the keyblade now up on my profile.

Also, yes I can count. The reason I didn't have Toshiro chime in, is because he's not a captain yet. He entered the academy after Hinamori had already graduated. There was also no captain for the jubantai until Hitsugaya filled the spot.

As always, please read and review, and inform me of any spelling or grammatical errors you find so I can correct them. I know I find it annoying to read stories that sound like they were written by cavemen. "Aizen why you come here? I busy with work." Things like that usually make me want to stop reading a story immediately.


End file.
